Available

Side track a bit. Although I argued that free education to all children is a pre-requisite of a successful democratic system, free education is also the cause of craving for democracy.

In fact, we can go back one step: With the advance in technology (oh, I mean paper and printing – nothing cyber or electronic), the cost of acquiring knowledge is reduced dramatically. Education becomes readily available to many people even if there is no government intervention.

And, as the Genesis described, with knowledge, people open their eyes and would no longer obey to the god or follow the smart minority – because (they think) they are now equally smart. They would fight for a equal right to choose their leader and run their country.

That is democracy.

PS. Yes, that’s how Europe woke up from the Dark Age. Ironically, the technology of making paper as well as printing originated from China. Both spreaded to the Europe via Arabs.